Category: Misc.

Buy Local! How to Support your Local Economy Through Food

By Majnoonita
updated 4 months ago

San Francisco is one of the best cities to pursue alternative food suppliers. When you buy local (as in, non-corporate) you are greatly contributing to your community's economy, instead of padding the pockets of a far off corporate exec. Though our national economy is suffering from outsourcing and war spending, one of the best ways to strengthen it is through fostering a stronger local economic base. It's good economic Karma! Here's a sustainable, local consumer's guide to grocery shopping paradise.

Meat Lovage

Welcome to heaven. Meat heaven that is. If you want top quality, organic meats and poultry or PC and sustainable seafood, Drewes Brothers Meat market is the place for you. Located in Noe Valley, you’d think it’d be a hotspot for bougie food snobbery. The people who work the counter are knowledgeable without pretension and helpful without condescension. You want some pork but not sure what cut or how to cook it? Need some fish but always seem to screw it up? Just ask!

In addition to your basic butcher shop fair, they also carry several kinds of bacon, sausages, organic deli meats, pasta sauces, olives, and an assortment of wines. Don’t forget to leave something in the tip jar!

On pricing: it’s true, natural and organic meats and poultry don’t come cheap. But the pricing here is comparable to the corporate equivalent (cough-whole-foods-cough). Plus, you get the joy of knowing that your purchase is directly supporting a local business.

Farmer Lovage

If you’ve got a little extra time on your hands and you feel like a more spontaneous and eclectic grocery experience, farmer’s markets are the place for you. Farmer’s markets are a great way to directly support your local farmers and food-crafters because it eliminates the middleman and gives you the freshest selections right off the farm truck. It’s better for the farms and it’s better for your taste buds. Not to mention you get to meet great people who are even more obsessed with freshness than you are!

The one of the best farmer’s markets in SF is at the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero. It’s da bomb. A close second is the Alemany Blvd Farmer’s Market just on the other side of Bernal Heights and Outer Mission. For those in the East Bay the El Cerrito Farmer’s Market has a good reputation, as does the Berkeley Farmer’s Market (but I can’t say for sure as I have yet to visit either!).

A special note on farmer’s markets: it’s not just for produce! Farms often produce more than just fruits and vegetables, and many of them team up to make top quality, hand crafted cheeses, breads, preserves, and numerous other treats.

On pricing: Farmer’s markets are more often then not less expensive than a grocery store. The absence of a retailer means more bang for your buck and more direct revenue for the farm!

Rainbow Lovage

If you want excellent produce, strong community economic impact (it’s a worker-owned co-op!) and a kick-ass soundtrack to sing along to while you squeeze some melons, Rainbow Grocery Cooperative is the place for you. You know how sometimes you buy fruits and vegetables and once you get them back to your house and try to eat them they are exposed as pale comparisons of what you thought you were buying? Well I’ve never had that experience with Rainbow. Every fruit that I buy there is damn near perfect in it’s ripeness, flavor and texture. Fear not the dry, juiceless orange! Long gone are the mealy, watery apples!

Produce aside, Rainbow isn’t just about fresh and local fruits and vegetables. The star of the show is actually the extensive and unimaginably diverse bulk department. From run of the mill staples like flours, beans, rice and pastas, to dried fruits like dates, papayas, goji berries and more! Whether you only want one ounce of vegan chocolate peanut butter chips or one pound of dark and delicious Miso, you’ll find what you need in the quantity you need it in at your friendly local Rainbow Grocery!

Bonus points: Still not convinced that Rainbow is all that jazzy? Here’s a list of some of the other items they sell in bulk: shampoos and other body care supplies, olive and other such oils, honey, maple syrup, vinegars, a dozen different kinds of olives, righteous teas and coffees and an herb and spice section that will make you wet your pants with joy. Shop onwards!

On pricing: I will be the first to admit that Rainbow is not the best place to buy packaged foods. But that’s the whole point of their bulk section! If you stick to buying bulk and produce and skip out on all the fancy packaged foods your wallet will be just fine (pretty much anything you could buy in a package is available in bulk here).

For those in the East Bay: the East Bay equivalent of Rainbow is Berkeley Bowl. But be forewarned: Berkeley Bowl is pricier than Rainbow and lacks socialist co-op cred.

Delivery Lovage

Feeling overwhelmed by all these amazing choices? Not enough time to grocery shop? Perhaps a CSA is a good choice for you. If you love fresh, organic fruits and vegetables but don’t have the time or money to go in search of them every week, a Community Supported Agriculture program could be a good fit. What is a CSA, you might be asking. Well, it’s just perfect if you ask me. A CSA is a delivery program organized by a local farm, or larger group of small farms, to hand pick a fresh assortment of in-season produce, box and delivery them to a pick-up location in your neighborhood. Every week the boxes are delivered to the pick-up site and it’s just your responsibility to pick it up within a 4-6 hour window of time on the afternoon/evening of the scheduled delivery day. Most CSA programs offer different box sizes so that you get more or less depending on your needs. All in all it’s like having the farmer’s market delivered right to you!

My choice for excellent Bay Area CSA is Terra Firma Farms. They’re located in Yolo County (Northeast of Napa) and they’re organic, friendly, and full of immense flavor. I truly fell in love with Terra Firma during last years cherry season, as I really had not tasted a cherry the way nature had intended it until I had one of theirs. Because of their high quality and reliability the demand for Terra Firma CSA subscriptions has outnumbered the supply. But be sure to check their website to see when they will be taking more orders.

On pricing: relative to some of the other options listed in this guide, CSAs are quite economical. You get farmer’s market prices, save yourself time and energy, and a new delicious surprise every week!

Random Lovage

If you live in San Francisco, live on a hill and don’t own a car (like me!) you know that grocery shopping can be a challenge sometimes. Fortunately there are local markets that cater to people like me. However, what they make up for in convenience they often dramatically lack in affordability. That said, entertain the following at your own financial risk.

The Good Life: a locally owned grocer that started in Potrero Hill and expanded to a second location on Bernal Heights. Has typical organic grocery fair, organic meats and poultry, body care, what have you. A great choice if you’re in a pinch, but not the best choice if you’re on a budget.

Other Avenues Food Store: for those who live waaaaaaaay out in the Sunset, this is pretty much your only local organic grocery cooperative. It’s not as pricey as it could be, but still, they pretty much hold the monopoly. Important: if you volunteer there you get a discount!